Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which participation in a county-wide prevention program leads to improvements in protective factors associated with child abuse prevention (CAP) and whether improvements in measured protective factors relate to decreased odds of child abuse. Method: Using multilevel growth modeling, our analyses focus on an economically poor, culturally diverse sample of 1,184 mothers who maintained their involvement in the program for at least 6 months. Results: Our results support a limited association between program participation and improvements in maternal protective factors. Nevertheless, pursuant to the working theory of many CAP programs, improvements in maternal social support and mental health, when evident, were significantly associated with reduced odds of child abuse. Conclusion: More robustly specified interventions and supports are needed to enhance outcomes for the majority of families targeted by the program, including those who present the greatest vulnerability for child abuse.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the construct and predictive validity of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2). Methods: The validity of the AAPI-2 was evaluated using multiple statistical methods, including exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and latent class analysis. These analyses were conducted using data collected from a culturally diverse sample of 2,160 low-income parents. Results: Although the AAPI-2 yielded high reliability coefficients, analyses of the instrument's validity diverged significantly from the results reported by the instrument's developers. Specifically, the instruments' reported five-factor structure was not supported in this study. Moreover, parents' AAPI-2 scores were not associated with child abuse as originally hypothesized. However, when the AAPI-2 was analyzed as a categorical latent variable, the results were useful in identifying parents who were unlikely to abuse or neglect their children. Conclusion: Further replication and extension research on the AAPI-2 with other low-income populations is warranted.

During 1998 an estimated 560,000 children were in foster care across the United States. With increasing numbers of children in foster care policy‐makers are concerned with permanency planning. In an effort to promote permanency planning the US Congress enacted the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 which mandated that individual states (a) develop a case plan within 30 days of a child being placed in foster care, (b) incorporate a system of review into their foster care programs, and (c) review foster care cases at least every six months. Despite the level of policy activity centering on foster care review there has been a paucity of rigorous research. This study asks ‘How well utilized are foster care review recommendations by child welfare case managers and Juvenile Court judges?’ Results are framed in Systems Theory, specifically Complexity Theory. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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This book focuses on methods to improve outcomes for those individuals who do not readily obtain maximum benefit from cognitive-behavioral interventions. The authors of each chapter offer techniques that build on standard Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) approaches to assist more difficult clients in making important and lasting changes in their lives. This book includes chapters on treating anxiety, mood, thought, eating, and substance abuse disorders as well as couple distress.A unique feature of this book is that the chapter authors' extensive practice wisdom is effectively combined with up-to-date research evidence about factors influencing CBT outcomes with each of the disorders addressed. Each chapter begins with an overview of the evidence supporting the CBT approach to the targeted disorder, followed by a discussion of what research efforts have gleaned about factors influencing CBT outcomes for individuals suffering from the disorder. The chapter authors then describe a CBT innovation, including its theoretical rationale and technical application, followed by a case example. The authors' discussion of the case examples includes very forthright assessments of additional intervention techniques that could have been applied in the case as well as what worked, and such candor should be applauded.This book has many strengths, and two are remarkable for this review. The chapter authors always use up-to-date research evidence about factors influencing CBT outcomes to derive the rationale for their recommended techniques. Additionally, these evidence-based techniques are described with language that any practitioner who is familiar with CBT can easily comprehend, thus making the techniques readily understandable and applicable. This book represents a skillful joining of research and practice. Readers who have some basic familiarity with the theory and practice of CBT may benefit more readily from this book than novice CBT practitioners, unless such novice practitioners are in active CBT training and supervision.Appropriate audiences for this book include direct providers of clinical mental health services and graduate students who are in clinical training programs that emphasize CBT and evidence-based practice. This book affords practicing clinicians a set of techniques that synthesize a large body of research evidence in their derivation. Students and others in CBT training will enjoy a substantial advantage afforded by this straightforward application of evidence-based practice. This book also should be read by researchers who are interested in an exemplar for joining CBT research and practice.